Effects of Reading-Listening Integrated Dictation on Chinese EFL Students’ Listening Performance

This study examines the effects of reading-listening integrated dictation on Chinese college-level English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ listening. Different from previous research that explored reading while listening for listening development, this study combined the two skills in dictation in which listening was a continuation of reading. Participants were two groups of first-year Chinese EFL learners who were exposed to the target language under two conditions: the traditional dictation (i. e., listening-only) and the reading-listening integrated dictation in a counterbalanced order. Three datasets were collected: listening performance, perception questionnaires and follow-up interviews. Results indicated that the reading-listening integrated dictation was superior in terms of learning gains from listening and that their effect was commensurate with dictation text difficulty. The findings also showed that the reading-listening integrated dictation could enhance EFL students’ confidence and interest and make the use of strategies possible during listening.

Information Easiness Affects Non-experts’ Evaluation of Scientific Claims About Which They Hold Prior Beliefs

Usually, non-experts do not possess sufficient deep-level knowledge to make fully informed evaluations of scientific claims. Instead, they depend on pertinent experts for support. However, previous research has shown that the easiness by which textual information on a scientific issue can be understood seduces non-experts into overlooking their evaluative limitations. The present study examined whether text easiness affects non-experts’ evaluation of scientific claims even if they possess prior beliefs about the accuracy of these claims. Undergraduates who strongly believed that climate change is anthropogenic read argumentative texts that were either easy or difficult to understand and that supported a claim either consistent or inconsistent with their beliefs. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that text easiness affects non-experts’ judgment of scientific claims about which they hold prior beliefs—but only when these claims are in accordance with their beliefs. It seems that both text difficulty and belief inconsistency remind non-experts of their own limitations.

Dyslexics’ Fragile Oculomotor Control Is Further Destabilized by Increased Text Difficulty

Dyslexic adolescents demonstrate deficits in word decoding, recognition, and oculomotor coordination as compared to healthy controls. Our lab recently showed intrinsic deficits in large saccades and vergence movements with a Remobi device independent from reading. This shed new light on the field of dyslexia, as it has been debated in the literature whether the deficits in eye movements are a cause or consequence of reading difficulty. The present study investigates how these oculomotor problems are compensated for or aggravated by text difficulty. A total of 46 dyslexic and 41 non-dyslexic adolescents’ eye movements were analyzed while reading L’Alouette, a dyslexia screening test, and 35 Kilos D’Espoir, a children’s book with a reading age of 10 years. While reading the more difficult text, dyslexics made more mistakes, read slower, and made more regressive saccades; moreover, they made smaller amplitude saccades with abnormal velocity profiles (e.g., higher peak velocity but lower average velocity) and significantly higher saccade disconjugacy. While reading the simpler text, these differences persisted; however, the difference in saccade disconjugacy, although present, was no longer significant, nor was there a significant difference in the percentage of regressive saccades. We propose that intrinsic eye movement abnormalities in dyslexics such as saccade disconjugacy, abnormal velocity profiles, and cognitively associated regressive saccades can be particularly exacerbated if the reading text relies heavily on word decoding to extract meaning; increased number of regressive saccades are a manifestation of reading difficulty and not a problem of eye movement per se. These interpretations are in line with the motor theory of visual attention and our previous research describing the relationship between binocular motor control, attention, and cognition that exists outside of the field of dyslexia.

The interplay of glossing with text difficulty and comprehension levels

The aim of this experiment was to investigate how glossing influences second language (L2)reading comprehension in relation to text difficulty and the two local and global meaning representations. Fifty-eight undergraduate students were asked to read three easy, moderate, and difficult texts and, following each passage, answer twenty comprehension questions targeting local and global concepts in one of the two first-language-glossed and unglossed conditions. Half of the participants in each group were supposed to think aloud while reading. The results revealed a significant difference between the performance of glossed and unglossed groups on comprehension of local concepts in all three difficulty levels. However, the impact of glossing on comprehension of global concepts was significantly influenced by text difficulty. The qualitative analysis of think-aloud protocols suggested a substantial difference in glossing functionality on fluency between the easy and the difficult texts. Furthermore, it is suggested that revisiting the glossing effect in combination with text difficulty on the reading product and underlying processes might reconcile some divergent hypotheses on glossing impact on fluency.

Selection of Malay Language Reading Material Based on Readability Factors

In this paper the author discuss the methods that can applied to select reading material that is appropriate to the reading ability of students. The old assumption that books or materials that written for a certain level is appropriate for all students in that particular level, needs to be changed. This is because students who isin a certain level have different reading abilities. Therefore, this paper will introduce the understanding of readability factors as one way of selecting appropriate reading material for students. The level of readability for reading materialsare influenced by a variety of factors, including the reader, environment and reading material. This article focuses on reading material factors such as clear font size and style, illustration and colour, vocabulary and sentence structure. Further, this article will present text difficulty analysis through the analysis of vocabularies. This paper conclude that vocabulary factor should not be overlooked and teachers must understand this because reading materials can be difficult when vocabulary that appear in the reading material does not fit to the level of the reader.

Plain language as a tool used in the adaptation of texts for the purpose of teaching Polish as a foreign language — research overview

The aim of the article is to collect and present studies into text comprehensibility conducted so far. The author examines studies dealing with plain language, Polish language teaching and pedagogy. The article opens with an overview of the history of research into text difficulty in the world featuring various concepts of automatic measurement of text difficulty level. Next the author presents studies devoted to comprehensibility of utterances in Poland, as well as studies concerning text difficulty with regard to language teaching. This is followed by a discussion of the principles of the text simplification principle according to the Wrocław plain language model and in the teaching of Polish.The article closes with a short overview of publications containing simplified authentic texts used in the teaching of Polish as a foreign language.

Learning by Explaining Orally or In Written Form? Text Difficulty Matters

In this experiment, we examined whether text difficulty moderates the effect of the modality of explaining on students’ learning. Students (N = 115) read a high-difficult and a low-difficult text. Additionally, students generated either a written or an oral explanation. A control group of students retrieved the content. For the low-difficult text, we found no significant differences between conditions. For the high-difficult text, however, oral explaining yielded better comprehension than writing explanations. The retrieval condition showed the lowest performance. Mediation analyses revealed that the effect of explaining modality was mediated by the number of personal references and the comprehensiveness of the generated explanations. Our findings suggest that the effect of explaining modality emerges when students are required to learn from difficult text materials. Furthermore, the findings show that oral explaining is effective, as it triggers distinct generative processes due to increased social presence during explaining.

Mind wandering increases linearly with text difficulty

Although mind wandering during reading is known to be affected by text difficulty, the nature of this relationship is not yet fully understood. To examine this issue, we conducted an experiment in which participants read non-fiction texts that varied along five levels of difficulty under naturalistic conditions. Difficulty levels were determined based on Flesch–Kincaid Grade Levels and verified with Coh–Metrix indices. Mind wandering was measured with thought probes. We predicted that text difficulty and mind wandering have a U-shaped (i.e., quadratic) relationship. Contrary to our expectations, but in line with some prior studies, mind wandering linearly increased with text difficulty. Additionally, text interest moderated the effect of text difficulty on mind wandering. Finally, mind wandering was associated with worse performance on a comprehension test. Together, our findings extend previous work by showing that (a) a linear relationship between difficulty and mind wandering exists during common page-by-page reading of pre-existing texts and that (b) this relationship holds across a broad range of difficulty levels.